


Tattoos & Killing Butterflies

by ThoseBrownEyes



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: BoyxBoy, M/M, Punk Louis, larry stylinson - Freeform, one direction - Freeform, ziam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-12
Updated: 2013-08-12
Packaged: 2017-12-23 06:17:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/922997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThoseBrownEyes/pseuds/ThoseBrownEyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Punk Louis does his fair share of stalking while Harry builds up courage to get his first tattoo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tattoos & Killing Butterflies

It was a normal day for Louis. He worked, worked, worked as usual. It never really ended; the long days of sitting in the desk chair and playing some random games on the Lobby computer. He understood that he wasn’t suited for anything else than the bookings, charging customers and a new edition to his duties; talking to the customers about the designs they wanted . He had dropped out of UNI and now looked like someone who belonged in a jail cell. What others didn’t know was that all those tattoos that covered most of his arms and some chest areas were all meaningful to him in some way. The words inked on his wrists were promises, the black and white tattoos were his dark past, and the more colourful tattoos are for a bright future somewhere on the way.   
The bell above the door made a broken sound reminding Louis he should take a look at it and a lad walked in; curls tucked in under a snow covered beanie and coat wrapped around his petite body. He looked around the Tattoo Parlour lobby with his brows pushed together in a frown. 

\- “Can I help you, mate?” Louis wondered and the stranger’s eyes landed on Louis behind the desk. They were emerald green Louis decided on, a beautiful forest shade. 

\- “Yes, most certainly… I suppose. I want a tattoo. I’ve never gotten one before so I’m a tad nervous coming here. I just want something small, like a g-clef” He seemed polite to Louis, something the tattooed boy wasn’t used to. The people coming in here were usually Louis kind and acted as if he was the underdog. “I’m Harry, Harry Styles” 

\- “Louis, Louis Tomlinson, and don’t worry, they know what they’re doing here” Louis assured Harry and then closed the tab on Chrome for his game of Draw My Thing that he had lost minutes ago. “Let me just look up in the time-schedule to see when I can squeeze you in” Harry fiddled with the sleeves of his jacket while Louis found him a day for the tattoo. “How does next Thursday at four p.m. sound to you?” 

\- “Sounds great, my last lecture ends around three p.m. so that’ll be perfect” Harry didn’t know why he felt the need to tell Louis about his own schedule, it seemed unnecessary now that it was said.

\- “I’ll tell George to get some designs ready for you and maybe you can stop by in… let’s say two days to look at them?” Louis checked George’s schedule and saw that he would have some time over tomorrow to draw the designs. 

\- “Splendid!” Harry smiled big and bright; showing Louis his dimples for the first time. It was a beautiful feature that got exposed when the younger was truly happy. “Oh, I have to get going. My mother will go crazy if I’m late for supper again. I’ll see you soon, Louis” 

\- “I’ll see you later, bad boy” Louis decided to be a little bit of a tease and winked at Harry as well; shamelessly flirting, no harm in that? Harry laughed at the not-so-accurate nickname and then exited with a small wave.  
Louis smirked a little and booked the appointment for the innocent boy, then started up his Draw My Thing again to pass time. The day continued like that; an occasional customer entering every now and then to get a tattoo, some phone calls to answer and a lot of playing games to keep himself occupied.   
When Louis came home he found Zayn sleeping on the couch and Niall in the kitchen eating some microwave soup while texting someone who Louis assumed was a new fling. Still he couldn’t bring himself to think about asking about it because he had some other topics to discuss with himself that was far more important than knowing what Niall’s new ‘buddy’s name was.   
Harry the name fitted him. Louis didn’t know why he thought about him, it wasn’t as if attractive lads hadn’t walked through that door before –there were plenty of them; all covered in tattoos and piercings in the weirdest places. Maybe it was how Harry treated him like an equal and not some silly receptionist that couldn’t get a proper job. That’s pretty much what Louis was in his own opinion as well, it came as no surprise that his mother was disappointed. She had put so much heart and soul into raising her kids, only to be let down with a punk Louis. He would always be her son and she loved him no matter what, but she wished he could just be normal for once. Louis didn’t like normal, normal was boring as hell. He liked how he looked and wasn’t going to change for anyone, not even Harry who had managed to make him a bit tingly. 

\- “Louis, mate, what’s on your mind? You look torn” Niall asked when Louis entered the small kitchen area to grab a bite to eat. 

\- “Just some kid that wanted his first tattoo, he was a polite lad” Louis didn’t want to be too significant, afraid that Niall would dig deeper. 

\- “Oh, a cute one, yeah?” Niall teased and ate some more of the chilli soup. 

\- “Hot as fuck” they both had a laughing fit because of Louis’ ways to express himself and then pretended to wipe tears from the corner of their eyes. “No, but seriously, he was one attractive kid. You know, all innocent and young. I love me some unmarked skin” 

\- “You sound possessed, Lou. It’s creeping me out and if I was him I would run for my life while I still could” Niall stood up and put the bowl in the sink full of dishes. 

\- “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that and demand that you clean the dishes. I did it last time and Zayn is asleep” Louis poked Niall’s side so he squirmed a bit and then laughed at the Irish lad’s angry expression. 

\- “Yeah, well, Liam was over here earlier so I think he tired him out a bit. And I’ll just take a shower first, go stalk your new crush now, Louise” It was now Niall’s turn to laugh at Louis who hated his nickname from back in Doncaster. 

\- “Oh, shut it you! Go take that shower now, you almost stink as much as your jokes” Louis didn’t hesitate to be sassy and Niall should’ve seen it coming, he had lived with Louis for three years now after all. “And I won’t stalk him. I’m simply going to see if he has Facebook or Twitter” 

\- “Whatever you say, Princess. Whatever you say” 

~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~

 

The day of Harry’s arrival at the shop came faster than Louis expected it to and at half past noon Louis had quit trying to win Draw Your Thing against some bloody Picasso and moved on to staring at the door because he wasn’t sure when Harry would be coming in. Louis found that Harry did in fact have both Facebook and Twitter, but he was too much of a coward to make contact on either of the sites. Louis looked at pictures though and did his fair share of stalking. What else would he spend his free time doing? He didn’t have anything else to do when his mother wasn’t calling and Zayn and Liam was keeping him up at night. Liam had come over later to stay the night, which to Louis dismay, was a very loud night in the Ziam bedroom. So Louis played his The Fray record loudly and did some research to pass time.   
Once again Louis found his curly new half-way-there-crush to be standing in the lobby with a snow covered beanie. It was cute in Louis’ opinion; almost child-like in a way.

\- “Hello there, you ready to see the designs?” Harry nodded as an answer and walked closer to the desk area. “Wait right here, I’ll go get ‘em” Harry went to sit down in one of the uncomfortable armchairs by the door. He almost felt like he was waiting at the dentist’s office, only now he would suffer more.

\- “Calm down” He told himself while fiddling his thumbs and letting his eyes wander around the room. It was a simple place, not too much decorations or furniture. It had pictures of tattooed men and designs -that Harry found oddly fascinating- hanging on the walls. It reminded him of his punk cousin Drew’s room. 

\- “Here we have them. George just drew some musical notes and such that you can choose from” Louis came back out with some small drawings that looked pretty amazing. He gave them to Harry who smiled that beautiful smile again, making Louis’ only choice smiling back. “Where do you want it, by the way?” 

\- “I’m thinking my wrist. You can see it, but it’s still kind of on the low” Harry prayed to himself that he didn’t offend Louis with his words and quickly explained himself. “Not that it’s wrong to have visible tattoos, I mean, it’s your choice. I’m just a bit nervous and my mother doesn’t really approve which causes a bit of trouble”

\- “It’s fine, I didn’t expect you to get a sleeve or anything” Louis laughed loudly and then went back to his place behind the counter. 

\- “I really like the g-clef that sort comes out of the flower. It’s pretty” Harry held up the drawing so Louis could see and Louis nodded after mumbling a small ‘You’re pretty’ 

\- “A pretty tattoo for a pretty lady” Louis tried being flirty once again and succeeded when Harry blushed. What he didn’t expect was for Harry to ditch the tattoo just from Louis words, he didn’t want Louis not to like what he was getting or to make fun of it. So it was put aside along with the rest of what Louis had suggested. “Get the flower, Harry. I think it would fit your personality a bit. You’re so… innocent” 

\- “Well, I liked it a lot… Am I that innocent?” Harry looked at Louis; teeth digging into his bottom lip and green irises becoming dull. 

\- “Harry, you said your mother would be mad if you got home late for supper. Winnie the Pooh is more of a rebel than you are” Louis could see a glimpse of amusement sparkle in Harry’s eyes before they left their stare. 

\- “Well, I’ll get it then. Is there anything more you need?” Harry stood up and gave the design back to Louis who just shook his head. 

\- “How big do you want it? You could get it the size of this design. I think it’s a good size” Louis had now grabbed Harry’s wrist to examine and put the design over it to see how much it would cover.

\- “Yeah, I think so too. Nothing more?” Harry wondered once Louis let of of him.

\- “No, you’ll get to fill out the paperwork later. Nothing mayor, just a standard form, and we’ll have everything else ready by the time of your appointment” Louis went into a professional mode to not seem like he didn’t care. He had a tendency of joking around a lot and people never really took him seriously anymore. 

\- “I will see you Thursday then, have a great day, Louis” Harry said in his polite tone and then corrected the beanie before heading towards the door. 

\- “You too, it was nice seeing you again!” 

~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~

 

\- “Hey, Louis!” Harry came in and greeted his new mate, at least that’s how Harry saw it. They’ve talked, joked a bit so he saw them as friends, nothing wrong with that. 

\- “Hey there, pretty lady! Ready for that tattoo now?” Louis didn’t look up from the screen; too concentrated in guessing what the person was drawing. The previous customer had just left after getting the tattoo wrapped up and Louis had gone back to being bored, until Harry arrived that is.

\- “Yeah… what are you doing?” 

\- “Playing Draw My Thing… and I lost again!” in pure frustration Louis grunted and closed the tab as he had done many times before once he lost, even if the other people were clearly in some sort of aliens. “Anyway, George is in the other room. I just need you to fill this out first and then we’ll head to the back” As harry filled out his personal information, Louis went up and closed the shop for today. Harry was the last customer and Louis thought he might need someone by his side when getting his first tattoo. Louis regretted not bringing Zayn for his first, it was god damn awful, but he was strong and independent. Sort of. 

\- “Here you go” Harry handed in the paperwork and Louis signed it as well before putting it in the files. 

\- “Come on then, let’s go!” Louis guided Harry to the back where George was preparing some needles or whatnot. The man looked up and scanned Harry’s body, then turned to Louis.

\- “He really is a pretty lady, Louis. I must give you that. Why don’t you go prep him?” George winked at Louis, making the joke obvious. Harry stood in silence with red cheeks and gaze at the floor; too embarrassed to say anything.

\- “Oh, I’ll prep him good, Greggy! Don’t you worry. He’ll be ready for ya” The words Louis spoke caused Harry to almost choke on his one spit or something. He wasn’t used to these kinds of jokes, he was raised posh and polite, not with dirty jokes and perverted minds. “Come on, sit down while Greggy gets ready on his own” And the jokes continued as Louis started cleaning Harry’s wrist with some liquid that caused Harry to make a funny face. “Man up…. And just wait here. George will be right back to put the stencil on you, then he’ll get started. Do you want me to be here?” 

\- “No, I think I can manage, thank you. I’m not a baby, Louis” Louis felt a bit disappointed about Harry’s rejection to his offer. But he smiled and just walked out of there with his head held high. He had admitted to himself that he was smitten by the curly one’s charm. He had gotten it bad and his roommates had noticed as well, teasing him about it of course. 

\- “Do you need any help wrapping the tattoo later, or else I’m going home?” He yelled out to George and got a ‘no, bye’ back. Today was a day of defeat in Louis’ opinion. Harry didn’t need him at all like Louis expected him to. Or maybe not expected, it was more like he wanted Harry to need him there. Oh so he wanted that.

He got home to the sounds of his two roommates shouting and squealing like little girls. They were both standing on the sofa looking at a tiny spider that was making its way over the coffee table. This had happened before, plenty of times. So Louis grabbed the magazine off the table, rolled it up and smashed the spider.

\- “Now get down from there, you pussies! I’m not cleaning that spider up, I got better things to do” Louis snapped because quite frankly he was pissed off at the moment. 

\- “Shut up, you’re the girl here being all loved up and muchy about your new crush. Maybe you’re the pretty lady here!” Zayn snapped back trying to be a bit sassy as well. 

\- “I’m not crushing on him. He’s hot and I’m desperate, nothing else, okay?” That was a lie coming from Louis. He fancied Harry, for sure. It was one of those crushes that wouldn’t last for long and soon he would realize that it was stupid to develop it in the first place. 

\- “Keep telling yourself that” Niall muttered having Zayn silently agreeing. 

\- “I will” 

~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~”~

Louis walked down one of the many hallways at UNI a few weeks later trying to find classroom A109. Zayn was running late for work and begged Louis to give Liam the Biology book he had forgotten at their place the other night. Liam needed it for later today and Louis had the day off so he agreed to go give to him. 

\- “Here it is!” Lois said to himself and knocked on the door. He thought he heard a faint ‘come in’ so he opened it and stepped inside. The whole class stared at him standing up there by the teacher, it wasn’t a big class, thankfully. He spotted Liam in the back and was about to say something when his eyes met a pair of emeralds close up. For a short second he forgot why he was there, but soon he recovered. “Liam, Zayn was a bit busy so he told me to swing by with your biology book. You forgot it the other night” Louis was still looking at Harry; confusing many others in the class. 

\- “Thank you, Louis, tell him I’ll be over later” Liam had now stood up and grabbed the book out of Louis’ hands. 

\- “Bye, I’ll talk to you later, Liam. Nice to see you again, pretty lady” Louis winked at Harry who turned beat red.

\- “Well, class you were right about to be dismissed. So you can all leave with Mr. Tomlinson over here” The teacher, who Louis recognized from his UNI years of English studying, said and people gathered up their books to leave. Louis hurried out of the room, because he didn’t really want to speak to Harry. Something stirred inside of him at the thought and he was killing it. He was killing those butterflies one by one by avoiding Harry. 

\- “Louis, wait!” Harry called out from the crowd of passing by students. Louis did in fact obey and waited for Harry to make his way through all the people. “I w-wanted to speak to you, I was going to stop by the parlour, but it was closed today” Harry was now right in front of him, a bit taller and awkward, still an enjoyable view. 

\- “Sure, about what?” it came off as if Louis was annoyed. He didn’t intend to, it just went in the direction when he chose his tone. 

\- “Would you like to grab a coffee sometime, or maybe now if you’re not busy?” Harry tried sounding confident, even if Louis’ tone caught him off guard. “Like a date. You don’t have to, and I don’t even know if you’re that into guys. But I like you, Louis. A lot actually” Louis was flattered, truly. Here he was trying to avoid Harry and then Harry asks him out. “Please answer” He didn’t realize he hadn’t accepted the offer and simply nodded while smiling up at the boy who swiped him off his feet with one small smile.

\- “Yeah, that would be lovely, Harry. I kinda like you a lot too” Louis admitted and decided to hug Harry close. And as they stood there, in the middle of a UNI hallway, Louis also made the decision to not let Harry go. Ever.

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on my Wattpad account.


End file.
